While marriage may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), marital stress has been shown to evoke greater cardiovascular reactivity (CVR), increasing the risk of CVD. One possible context for experiencing marital stress is discussion of conflict within the relationship. The present study sought to attenuate the CVR experienced during marital conflict discussion through partner-focused prayer prior to discussion. Praying for one's partner has been linked to increased relationship satisfaction, more tendency to forgive, greater gratitude, and less likelihood of infidelity. It has also been reported to have a softening effect on conflict. To examine the attenuation effects of partner-focused prayer on CVR in martial stress, 90 married couples completed both a conflict discussion and control discussion (typical daily routines). Females were randomly assigned to either partner-focused prayer, thinking about God or religion, or mental activity intervention conditions. While overall means indicated greater CVR during the conflict discussion and less recovery afterward compared to the control discussion for systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP), these differences were not significant. Similarly, mean differences between intervention groups for SBP and DBP during conflict discussion and for SBP, DBP, nLF, nHF, and LFSBP after conflict discussion trend toward an attenuation effect of partner-focused prayer, compared to a mental thinking task control, when controlling for relationship satisfaction, regularly praying for one's partner, and religiosity; however, these results are also not statistically significant. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Identifier:

FSU_migr_etd-7315 (IID)

Submitted Note:

A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy.